5 bad things about Fallout 4

War.. War never changes, but over time video games do and if you are like me, you may be going into the wasteland of Fallout 4 with the hopes that Bethesda has created the perfect game. I’ve got well over 25 hours in on Fallout 4 thus far and while I love the game and recommend you buy it, there are still just a few things Bethesda didn’t get right, and you should mentally prepare yourself for some degree of disappointment.

5. The Introduction

The introduction for Fallout 4 falls way short of the incredibly high bar set by Fallout 3. By the time I left vault 101 in Fallout 3, Bethesda had already taken me on a magic carpet ride of emotions. From birth, my birthday party, my first crush, dealing with bullies, and ultimately leaving the shelter, by the time the intro was over, I had already established the fundamentals of my character’s identity. Fallout 4 takes that level of character building and attachment to narrative and flushes it down the toilet. I found myself completely unmoved by the elimination of specific main characters, and change of circumstances because I had not been given a reason to care. In Fallout 3 I wanted so badly for my girlfriend to follow me into the wasteland, and felt so sad that she didn’t want to leave with me. In Fallout 4 when I lost characters I was supposed to care about… I just looted the bodies and moved forward.

4. Companions are Invincible

One thing I love about Bethesda games is that nobody is safe from death. Companions, quest carriers, and pretty much everyone else (other than children) in games like Fallout 3 and Skyrim were fair game to meet the reaper, even if it means sabotaging the very fabric that holds your quests together! It seems like in Fallout 4 most of the NPCs are totally untouchable. If your companions take too much damage they go prone for a little while and then come back. While I understand that they must have done this so that the companion dies because of their stupid AI, your primary quests aren’t scrapped. If you liked travelling with Fawkes from Fallout 3 because he would hold your hand and kill everything for you, you might enjoy the companion system in Fallout 4.

3. Inventory Management

War… War never changes… and neither does Fallout’s inventory management system. They did make changes to how the armor works in Fallout 4. Now you wear a base costume, and then equip pieces of armor over each limb. This means that if you are particular about having your best armor and weapons equipped at all times, be prepared to spend a lot of time in your pip-boy. There is a sorting feature that allows you to sort by damage, weight, or value and this helps out a lot, but I feel like other games have taken care of this problem much better.

2. Bethesda Bugs

Bethesda games are so ambitious and the complexity of their games is one thing that makes them so popular among RPG fans. Another thing Bethesda is known for is random bugs and glitches. Upside down Mammoths in Skyrim, random Brahmin spawns in your house, companions that will often just disappear for hours only to be found swimming in an irradiated river for days at a time. The thing is that Elder Scrolls and Fallout games are so massive that they inevitably have strange bugs. Fallout 4 is no different, so as long as you are quick saving and quick saving often, you will save yourself many potential headaches from some weird game breaking glitches.

1. No Karma System

My biggest complaint about Fallout 4 in general was the removal of the Karma system. The karma system was exchanged for a faction system in New Vegas. Many of us hoped that maybe it was just an Obsidian thing and that as soon as Bethesda made a new Fallout that the Karma system would make its triumphant return. Unfortunately this was not the case. In fact when trying to just be evil in Fallout 4 there were absolutely no repercussions other than angry NPCs. In the main quest, it is impossible to be a bad guy. No matter what you say the plot moves forward the same way with little to no difference had you chose the ‘nice guy’ dialogue options. I’m not saying that this is a deal breaker for me, but I believe it’s a big talking point for those who really loved the ‘play your own way’ aspects of Bethesda games.

I swore before playing Fallout 4 that it was a sure win for Game of the Year. Unfortunately I think that is not a guarantee anymore. Games like Witcher 3 were phenomenal, and Metal Gear received near perfect scores from major gaming news outlets. While Fallout 4 is an amazing game that’s definitely worth your hard-earned bottle caps, you should keep your expectations realistic.